Susan Powell (cyclist)

Susan Powell

2012 Australian Paralympic Team portrait of Powell
Personal information
Nationality Australia
Born 30 May 1967
Nowra, New South Wales
Residence Australian Capital Territory
Sport
Country Australia
Sport Cycling
Club Vikings Cycling Club ACT

Susan Powell, OAM (born 30 May 1967) is an Australian cyclist. At the 2012 London Paralympics, she won a gold medal in the Women's Individual Pursuit C4, setting a new world record in the process, and a silver medal in the Women's Time Trial C4.

Personal

Susan Jennifer Powell was born on 30 May 1967 in the New South Wales city of Nowra.[1][2][3] In 2007, she had a spinal cord injury, which caused weakness in her right leg, due to a field hockey accident.[1][2] She has a Bachelors of Applied Science, a Masters of Environmental Science and a PhD (Environmental Science).[1] As of 2012, she lives in the Australian Capital Territory where she is a Research Fellow at the University of Canberra specialising in riverine and wetland ecology and hydrology.[1][2][4]

Cycling

Powell is a C4 classified cyclist.[1][2] She is a member of the Vikings Cycling Club ACT, and is coached by Sian Mulholland[1] and Glenn Doney.[2] In 2011 and 2012, she had a scholarship with the ACT Academy of Sport.[1][5]

Powell initially began cycling to improve her fitness for hockey and golf. After the hockey accident, she found that she could still participate in cycling, so she took the sport more seriously.[1][2] She made her Australian national team debut at the 2009 Para-cycling Road World Championships and has since won 4 world championships (Pursuit, Road and Road TT twice). Sue has been named Champion of Champions at four consecutive Australian Paracycling Track Championships as well as three times Female Paracyclist of the Year. [1] At the 2012 London Paralympics, she won a gold medal in the Women's Individual Pursuit C4, setting a new world record in the process, and a silver medal in the Women's Time Trial C4.[6]

Competing at the 2013 Para-cycling Road World Championships in Baie-Comeau, Canada, she won two bronze medals in the Women's Individual Time Trial C4 and Women's Road Race C4.[7]

At the 2014 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Aguascalientes, Mexico, she won a gold medal in the Women's 3 km Individual Pursuit C4, a bronze medal in the Women's Time Trial C4 and finished fourth in the Women's C1-5 Scratch Race.[8] Competing at the 2014 Para-cycling Road World Championships in Greenville, South Carolina, Powell won two medals - silver medal in the Women's Road Race C4 and bronze medal in the Women's Time Trial C4. [9]

Recognition

Powell was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in the 2014 Australia Day Honours "for service to sport as a Gold Medallist at the London 2012 Paralympic Games."[3]

She was the Australian Capital Territory Female Athlete of the Year and Sportstar of the Year in 2011, 2012 and 2014. In 2014, she was the joint winner with bmx riderCaroline Buchanan and joined basketballer Lauren Jackson as the only triple winner.[10]

She was Cycling Australia's Female Paracyclist of the Year in 2009, 2010 and 2011.[11]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 "Sue Powell". Cycling Australia. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "Susan Powell". Australia: Australian Paralympic Committee. 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Australia Day honours list 2014: in full". Daily Telegraph. 26 January 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  4. ↑ "Australians Keen to Secure Maximum Places for London Paralympics". International Business Times. 16 February 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  5. ↑ "OLYMPIC HOPEFULS". Canberra Times (Canberra, Australia). 26 November 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  6. ↑ Susan Powell's profile on paralympic.org. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  7. ↑ "Para-cyling Road World Championships - Results". UCI Website. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
  8. ↑ "Australia finishes Para Track Worlds as top nation". Cycling Australia News. 14 April 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  9. ↑ "Eight medals for Australia at Para-cycling Road World Championships". Cycling Australia News. 2 September 2014. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
  10. ↑ Polkinghorne, David (31 October 2014). "Caroline Buchanan and Sue Powell named ACT Sportstar of the Year". Canberra Times. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  11. ↑ "Susan Powell". Cycling Australia. Retrieved 5 November 2014.